TCAT launches new Bike Lane Impact Study

TCAT is pleased to announce the launch of a new research project to study the economic impacts of bike lanes in two areas of Bloor Street scheduled for a bike lane pilot project in 2016. The City of Toronto is currently undertaking a feasibility study to identify design options and impacts for Bloor between Shaw Street and Avenue Road. However, determining the local economic impact is outside of the scope of the City’s study which led to the opportunity for TCAT to study this issue of critical importance to local business.

Between 2015 and 2017, with funding from the Metcalf Foundation, the Bloor Annex BIA and the Korea Town BIA, TCAT is leading this study with support from Dr. Beth Savan and her research team at the University of Toronto. TCAT has considerable experience conducing this type of research, having previously published two ground-breaking reports on Bloor Street (2009, 2010) and commissioned a third featuring the Danforth produced by Ryerson (2014).

This new study is a first-of-its-kind in several ways with the most important being its pre-post design made possible by the pilot bike lane planned for 2016. The study is also precedent-setting due to its unique partnership between business owners, community leaders, and university researchers.